YAY, the last Selection post until I move on to The Heir and The Crown, which means not-the-last Selection post! So, The One by Kiera Cass. I have so much to talk about, down to the smallest detail so let’s go.

The book starts off with another rebel attack, with the same two people that America saw in the previous rebel attack (The Elite). They want to talk with Maxon and America alone. August Illea and Georgia Whitaker. Note the name Illea. They want the same thing that America wanted, to remove the caste system. The only thing that they want from Maxon is for him to marry America. BAD THING TO SAY. Maxon denies their request with anger radiating off of him the entire time. Soon after this, America finally realizes that she loves Maxon. FINALLY. This is when she sees Celeste, crying and miserable. Celeste becomes the BEST PERSON EVER, apologizing for her she acted before, and becoming the best friend and moral support to all of the other girls. They have the best times ever and it is this moment that made me want to have a friend like Celeste that I would protect no matter what, and she would protect me right back. The only difference here is that America failed the protection process… After this nice moment, America decides that she will help August and Georgia with the help of Nicoletta, the Italian princess, one of America’s friends that she invites as her guest to the castle. Even after all this proof that she can make good choices sometimes, King Clarkson can still find ways to made America seem like a rule breaker. A.K.A: the jailing of the criminals who committed NOTHING BUT A PETTY CRIME BUT STILL GET A LIFE SENTENCE. Come on Clarkson, I know you want to make America’s life a living hell but try to keep other people out of it! America finds a way out of the situation by giving the poor man her jewels to pay his life debt to the King. King frowns loudly, but finally realizes that America could be an advantage for keeping peace with Illea and Italy (only thinks about profit this guy). Oh, have I told you all the horrible timing that Kiera has? Right when Maxon was about to profess his love to America, she gets a message that her father has died AND that he was a northern rebel. Double smack in the face right there. The only good news was that the Selection has been narrowed down to America and Kriss. We all obviously knew America was going to win, and we were waiting for the moment when Maxon asks her to be his wife. YAY, IT HAPPENS! BUT THEN, yeah, something has to ruin it, ASPEN GETS JEALOUS (SHE DOES NOT LOVE YOU), PRESSURES POOR AMERICA and Maxon finds them together. Goodbye marriage. So, Maxon proposes to Kriss instead, and if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of a million hearts breaking all at once. During the wedding, which America attends, the Southern rebels attack, America finds out that Kriss was a rebel too, and Maxon, our amazing Maxon, takes a bullet for America CAUSE HE LOVES HER NOT KRISS! “Break my heart. Break it a thousand time. It was only ever yours to break in the first place.” -Maxon. This was the second part that I cried at the most. The first was when I realized that Queen Amberly died. There was one sentence, ONE, that told us that she had died. But reading that sentence, I broke down crying and there was no one who could help me. I cried and cried and cried for so long I was not sure that I would be able to cry ever again, but I could. I loved Amberly, she was the character that saw the beauty in everything, who loved each of the girls with all of her heart, and called them her own set of daughters. She was perfect. And she died. That gave me enough grief to last me a lifetime, and I could not focus on the fact that Maxon had asked America to marry him again, that America said yes, that they were making the world a better place, or that America was pregnant. Long story short, this book will leave you emotionally unstable and you should only recommend it to your worst enemies or your closest friends.

Can I talk about how annoying America is? I mean, she makes bad decision after horrible decision. America, you are making us pull our hair out! Listen to Maxon for once in your life- Oh, hi Aspen. Wait NO GET OUT OF THE BOOK.

The Selection, one of my favorite series in the entire world and also one of the only series that causes me to scream at the book. America is a young woman who, unlike almost every other girl in the country, has no interest in marrying Prince Maxon. But when she is Selected along with 35 other girls, she has no chance but to leave. As long as she stays in the castle, America is providing money to her family, something that they need desperately. Her first meeting with the prince goes wonderfully well. In other words, she knees Maxon in the thigh and almost gets kicked out of the competition. But Maxon sees I-don’t-know what in her and decides to keep her as his friend. Beautiful. America still kind of hates Maxon, because she knows that she has Aspen back home, even if he BROKE UP WITH HER FOR HER OWN GOOD (don’t be an Edward please). Now that you have an idea of what The Selection is about, go read the book, come back later, and then we can talk. Done? Done, great. Maxon starts to feel feelings (AHHH) for America, becoming more and more interested in her, and America starts to notice this. She lets herself get closer to Maxon, but just when it seems she could begin to love him Aspen pops up as a guard in the castle. WHY. And then the book sort of ends with America being confused, keeping Aspen a secret and still growing closer to Maxon. Jumping straight into the Elite. Maxon and America are on a date in the library, where he shows her all of the now-illegal books. Turns out, America loves Halloween, so Maxon decides to have a Halloween party. Everything is nice and happy until Marlee is discovered having an affair with one of the guards, Carter. Not only was this one of the saddest scenes in the entire book, but America tries to stop them from getting hurt, almost eliminating herself in the process. Seeing how horrible America felt about her best friend being turned into an 8, Maxon brings them up to a 6 in secret, letting them work in the castle near America. He’s just perfect. Absolutely perfect. I am pretty sure that next up is a rebel attack. The rebels wanted to find Gregory Illea’s diary (those obsessive fangirls). After this moment, everything goes down to sh*t. America grows jealous of Maxon spending time with all of the other Elite’s, catches him with Celeste, and decides that Aspen is better than Maxon. The rest of her stay in the castle goes terribly. The King gets mad at America for debating in favor of eliminating the castes because she knew so much about them, and as a punishment for showing America the restricted books, he whips Maxon. America sees these scars and finally admits her jealousy of the other girls. America stays in the competition because Maxon is still head-over-heels in love with her. END OF BOOK 2. (God this is going to be a very long post.) I have way too much to say about The One, so that will be a separate post, coming out hopefully an hour later.

I am going to need to present one of the poems that I wrote to my class. I am horribly self-conscious and I have no idea how my class is going to react to my presentation Maybe the poems are good but my public speaking… youch. So, I need your help to help me choose a poem so that I can re-memorize it and calm down my nerves instead of blowing up. Thank you!!!